The DLC-ites are going to kill us yet. Three of ’em, Joe Lieberman, Al From and Paul Begala are busy being intentional or unintentional internal wrecking balls within the Democratic Party. Here is From, Democratic Leadership Council honcho, slamming those who have tired of Joe Lieberman’s both playing pattycake with President Bush and viewing the debacle in Iraq through the rosiest of colored glasses he refuses to remove.
Lieberman’s Support for War Leaves Him Embattled on Left
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
New York Times
May 19, 2006
“A very simple thing happened that changed Democratic politics dramatically, and that was that the war turned bad,” Mr. From said, adding of the senator’s critics: “There’s a group in our party that makes a lot of noise and I don’t think they’ve ever won an election. They’re trying to take out one of the great statesmen our party has and that’s wrong.”
Who can forget Michael Ware, the well-respected Baghdad bureau chief for TIME offering this about Lieberman:
“I and some other journalists had lunch with Senator Joe Lieberman the other day and we listened to him talking about Iraq. Either Senator Lieberman is so divorced from reality that he’s completely lost the plot or he knows he’s spinning a line. Because one of my colleagues turned to me in the middle of this lunch and said he’s not talking about any country I’ve ever been to and yet he was talking about Iraq, the very country where we were sitting.”
Now the dictionary defines statesman as “a man who is a leader in national or international affairs or a man who is a respected leader in a given field.”
The current group of sharks and heathens dominating the Republican Party view Lieberman as a patsy. He is nobody to fear and, in fact, will vote their way every so often. And who view Lieberman as a leader within the Democratic Party? An elder, yes, because of his age–not a leader.
Look at Lieberman’s collegial debate with Cheney six years ago. He came off as an avuncular relative, probably pleasant to have at get-togethers but not one who would or could instill an audience with even a modicum of fervor. It was as if Lieberman was prepared for a friendly chat–not ready to cogently and cleverly delineate the numerous differences between the Democrats and Republicans.
Plus, who can forget the following missed opportunity, an opening that was big enough to drive a Halliburton convoy through:
“And I’m pleased to see, Dick, from the newspapers, that you’re better off than you were eight years ago, too,” said Lieberman.
“And most of it — and I can tell you, Joe, that the government had absolutely nothing to do with it,” responded Cheney.
Whoa! Talk about a lobbing a softball and yet Lieberman’s weak followup was:
“I can see my wife, and I think she’s thinking, “Gee, I wish he would go out into the private sector,” Lieberman then told Cheney.
Pitiful.
Then there’s Paul Begala who is probably still upset at losing the Kerry media campaign bid to Bob Shrum:
The Situation Room, May 11, 2006
Speaking about DNC Chair Howard Dean:
BEGALA: He — yes, he’s in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it’s a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That’s not how you build a party. You win elections. That’s how you build a party.
Talk about the cheapest of cheap shots–he slanders members, high and especially low, of his own supposed political party. Hopefully, the GOP sent him a stipend for his contribution that night. He earned it.
Apparently, in Begala’s mind, you simply win elections to build a party. You disdainfully ignore Democrats in about 20 states and hope to somehow squeak by in the electoral college. Doesn’t that sound familiar? This didn’t work for Gore (yes, I know that’s debatable) or Kerry. Bill Clinton, the best political campaigner in decades, enjoyed one of his presidential election successes thanks to Ross Perot. The other, against Bob Dole, was a predictable victory after the Republicans nominated someone about as cheery and endearing of a candidate as Abe Vigoda (my apologies to you “Barney Miller” fans).
Until the Democrats resurrect as a national political party via activity in all 50 states, which will require evolving from invertebrates to vertebrates AND re-instituting economic policies that benefit the average American and the common good, successful Democratic electoral politics will be reliant on the sleaziness and corruption of the GOP and not because of alternative policies that clearly better the middle and lower classes.
Otherwise, “We’re Not As Bad As Them” will remain the impotent Democratic mantra.